Ideas for Fasting

“This is the fast I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice, to set the oppressed free, to share your food with the hungry, to provide the poor man shelter, and when you see the naked man to clothe him. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your righteousness will go before you. You will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” - Isaiah 58:6-9

"With holy fasting, no work may be more fruitfully associated than almsgiving which, under the one name of ‘mercy,’ embraces many good works. The field of works of mercy is immense. Their very variety brings this advantage to those who are true Christians, that in the matter of almsgiving not only the rich and affluent but also those of average means and the poor are able to play their part. Those who are unequal in their capacity to give can be equal in the love within their hearts." - St. Leo the Great

"At the Last Judgement you and I will not be asked how strictly we fasted, how many prostrations we made in our prayers, how many books we wrote, how many speeches we made at international conferences. We shall be asked: Did you feed the hungry? Did you give drink to the thirsty? Did you take the stranger into your home? Did you clothe the naked? Did you care for the sick and the prisoners? That is all we shall be asked.  Love for Christ is shown through love for other people, and there is no other way.  Notice how, concerning everyone who is in need and distress, Christ says "I": "I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was a stranger, sick, naked and a prisoner." Christ is looking at us through the eyes of all who suffer. Is that not frightening?" - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

"When you fast and are nourished with abstinence, do not store the leftovers for tomorrow, but, as the Lord became poor and enriched us, feed someone who does not want to be hungry, you who hungers willingly. Then your fast will be like the dove who brings and joyfully proclaims salvation to your soul from the flood." - St. Gregory Palamas